Michie Stadium / ˈ m aɪ k i / is an outdoor football stadium on the campus of the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York . The home field for the Army Black Knights , it opened 100 years ago in 1924 and has a current seating capacity of 42,765.
11-569: The stadium sits at the upper portion of campus, directly west of Lusk Reservoir . The field is at an elevation of 335 feet (102 m) above sea level and runs in the traditional north–south configuration, with the press box above the west sideline. Due to the view offered by its location overlooking the Hudson River and the Neo-Gothic architecture of the campus below, it was rated as Sports Illustrated ' s #3 sports venue of
22-730: The United States Military Academy at West Point . It is open for fishing in the Spring and early Fall, and usually freezes over during the winter months. The volume of the reservoir is required knowledge of all freshmen (plebes) at the Military Academy. It is one aspect of what is known as 'Academy Heritage'. When asked the question: "How many gallons in Lusk Reservoir?" plebes are expected to respond "78 million US gallons (300,000 m ) when
33-642: The 20th century. Michie Stadium is dedicated to the memory of Dennis Michie (1870–1898), who was instrumental in starting the football program while a cadet at the Academy. A member of the Class of 1892, Michie organized, managed, and coached the first football team at West Point in 1890. Six years after graduation, he was killed in Cuba during the Spanish–American War . There have been several renovations since
44-594: The Smith Rink for the program after almost 30 years in operation, only the third permanent on-campus venue in the country (after the Hobey Baker Memorial Rink and the Davis Rink ). The facility cost approximately $ 120,000 to construct and the team would use the Smith Rink as its home for the next 55 years. In the 1960s, as a member of ECAC Hockey , Army remained in the upper division when
55-519: The campus of the United States Military Academy in West Point , New York . The rink served as the home for the Army ice hockey program for 55 years and was the last outdoor venue used for Division I hockey when the program was downgraded in 1973. Because West Point was too far away from many of the existing rinks at the time, Army's ice hockey team required a rink of their own. The Academy built
66-466: The conference was split in two despite not having an indoor arena, one of the league requirements for being considered a major program. In 1973, however, the NCAA introduced numerical classifications for all sports and as a result Army dropped down to ECAC 2 for the remainder of the decade. In 1980 Army returned to Division I , but played a partial Division II schedule until 1985 when the indoor Tate Rink
77-650: The construction of the Smith Rink . The reservoir was constructed by Captain James L. Lusk (USMA 1878) in 1895. In the spring of 2006, the dam underwent its first cleaning in 111 years by the US Army Corps of Engineers. This article about a location in Orange County, New York is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Smith Rink The Smith Rink was an outdoor ice rink on
88-645: The rivalry games. Their rivalry game is normally played at a neutral site between the campuses on the East Coast , usually in Philadelphia in early December. In 2020, the Army–Navy Game was moved from Philadelphia to Michie Stadium due to state-imposed attendance limits on outdoor events as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic . Lusk Reservoir Lusk Reservoir is located next to Michie Stadium at
99-575: The stadium's first game in October 1924, when Army defeated Saint Louis , 17–0. In 1999 , the football field at Michie Stadium was named "Blaik Field" on September 25, in honor of Earl "Red" Blaik , West Point's all-time leader in wins during a 17-year tenure from 1941 to 1958 . Blaik led Army to three consecutive national titles from 1944 to 1946 . Since 2008 , the playing surface has been FieldTurf . This replaced AstroPlay , which had been used since 2001 . The stadium's playing field
110-403: The water is flowing over the spillway." The proper answer had been 92.2 million US gallons (349,000 m ) until construction of Michie Stadium reduced it to its current size. Its surface elevation is 327 feet (100 m) above sea level . [1] Prior to 1930, the school's ice hockey team used the reservoir as their home rink during the winter months. This practice was discontinued after
121-478: Was natural grass until AstroTurf was installed in 1977 . Michie Stadium first hosted the Army–Navy Game in 1943 during World War II , after it was played at Thompson Stadium at Annapolis the year before . Neither Army nor Navy had played at an on-campus facility since very early in the rivalry, since teams' home stadiums are not nearly large enough to accommodate the crowds and media that usually attend
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